Everything you need to know about art silk

If you have been looking for buying affordable but beautiful sarees, you would have definitely come across art silk. It is emerging as one of the most popular fabrics among Indian women.

Today, we’re going to discuss what art silk really is, how it came into existence, how is it different from real silk, how can you distinguish between this kind of silk and real silk and under what circumstances should you consider buying it.

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What is art silk and how it came into existence?

Art silk stands for artificial silk. Yes, it has nothing to do with artist kinda art. The term is used to refer to silk-like fibres that look like silk but aren’t really silk. In the beginning, rayon or viscose fibers were commonly considered as artificial silk.

Basically, art silk is any synthetic fiber which looks like silk but is certainly not silk or not prepared in the way real silk is. This kind of silk can be prepared from variety of material. For example, the first ever art silk produced was made out of cellulose fiber and was called viscose/rayon.

It was also made out of soybean fibers during 1931 and was given the name Azlon. It was then used to make suits and overcoats. In fact, nylon is also a kind of artificial silk but it wasn’t sold under this name.

What’s the difference between art silk and real silk?

The real silk is obtained by cultivating the silk worms on mulberry leaves and then the process of extraction and weaving follows. Art silk is synthetically prepared made out of various kinds of material like wood pulp, bamboo viscose (also called bamboo silk), cellulose fiber, polyester etc.

There are a number of test that are used to determine the difference between both kinds of silks.

How can you distinguish between art silk and real silk?

Price: Art silk is a lot cheaper than the real silk. In fact, art silk is the affordable alternative for silk. Art Silk Sarees cost around Rs. 500 – Rs. 1500 while real silk would be at least three times this cost.

Lustre: Real silk shines because of the kinds of threads that are used to prepare the fabric. Even art silk shines (as it looks like silk) but art silk always shines white when seen from any angle. This is not the case with real silk. When you see silk from different angles, the color of the shine is different.

Pattern: If the real silk has a printed patter, from the backside it will have the outline of that pattern whereas in case of art silk, the backside would be plain. In case of woven patter, genuine silk will have a little fuzzy pattern on backside.

Wedding Ring Test: This test doesn’t apply to heavier silk but a normal genuine silk can easily pass through a ring demonstrating how light and smooth the fabric is while art silk wouldn’t get through the ring so easily.

If you’re looking for an affordable material that have a great sheen, art silk is super good. Though it isn’t that light weight as real silk is but it goes well with sarees. The pleates of the sarees come out really nice and art silk is , in fact, easier to carry than a real silk saree. But then it also depends upon the quality of art silk.

For daily wear options, art silk is really recommended. Price, durability, easiness to carry, maintenance – all are in the favour of art silk. Go for it!

ABOUT BRIJRAJ

Brijraj is an online retailer and wholesaler of suits, sarees, lehengas and kurtis. With more than 1000 wholesale customers, Brijraj sells 20,000+ pieces each day and has been preferred by generations of women.